France thwarts ‘pre-election attack’, arresting two men in Marseilles

POLICE have arrested two men in Marseilles on suspicion of planning an attack just days before the first round of France’s presidential election.

AFP

News Corp Australia NetworkApril 21, 20176:38am

Members of the French RAID police unit leave after searching the home of one of two men arrested in Marseilles. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

POLICE have arrested two men in Marseilles on suspicion of planning an attack just days before the first round of France’s presidential election, with bomb-making materials and guns found in searches.

The foiled plot sparked fears the closing days of the campaign could be a target for extremists ahead of Sunday’s vote.

This combination of two handout pictures released by the French Police shows Clement B (L) and Mahiedine M (R) arrested in Marseilles, southern France. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Elite police and agents from France’s domestic intelligence agency detained the two Frenchmen — identified only as 23-year-old Clement B. and Mahiedine M., 29 — with Interior Minister Matthias Fekl saying they were known to be “radicalised.”

“They were aiming to commit in the very short term, in other words in the next few days, an attack on French soil,” Mr Fekl said.

Police found a machine gun, two hand guns and three kilos of TATP explosive at one flat.

Soldiers and police sealed off a road in the city where one of the men was arrested.

The two Frenchmen had met while sharing a cell in prison and were known to police as having turned to radical Islam, prosecutor Francois Molins said at a news conference.

He added that an Islamic State flag and jihadist propaganda had previously been found at the home of one of the men, while the other was thought to have had links to a Belgian jihadist cell.

France remains under a state of emergency after being a frequent target of terror attacks that have killed more than 230 people since January 2015.

A forensics expert leaves after gathering evidence at the home of one of two men arrested in Marseilles. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

In the deadliest attack, Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers slaughtered 130 people in Paris in November 2015.

Candidates have been heavily guarded during the election campaign, but so far there have been few security scares.

French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National (FN) party, Marine Le Pen, is expected to make it to the second round of voting. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Last week, photos of the two suspects in the attack plot were distributed to the security teams for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron.

“The photos were passed to my security service from Thursday,” Ms Le Pen said, while an aide to Macron also confirmed his campaign team received the pictures.

Conservative candidate Francois Fillon was also warned about the danger last week, an aide said.

On the campaign trail, the race was narrowing ahead of Sunday’s vote, with the pack closing behind frontrunners Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen.

For weeks, centrist former banker Macron and far-right National Front (FN) leader Le Pen have been out in front but opinion polls now show any of the four leading candidates could reach the second-round run-off on May 7.

Scandal-plagued conservative Francois Fillon and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon have closed the gap dramatically in the last two weeks.

“We have never seen a four-way contest like this in the first round of a presidential election,” Frederic Dabi of the Ifop polling institute said.

“There has been a real tightening of the race with four candidates between 19 per cent and 23 per cent,” he added.

Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen are tied on 22-23 per cent, with Mr Fillon improving to around 21 per cent and Melenchon surging as high as 20 per cent in some polls.

With Ms Le Pen expected to reach the second round, polls continue to indicate that whoever faces her will win, although after Brexit and Donald Trump’s US election win, no one is taking anything for granted.

Mr Melenchon has made the most remarkable breakthrough in recent weeks with a far-left program that includes huge public spending and a pledge to renegotiate all European Union treaties.

Far-right Front National (FN) party Marine Le Pen, left, and leader of the En Marche! movement Emmanuel Macron, are leading in the polls. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Ms Le Pen wants to pull France out of the eurozone and also foresees a mass renegotiation of EU treaties, sparking fears in Brussels that a victory for the far-right coming hot on the heels of Brexit could be fatal for the European bloc.

In contrast to Ms Le Pen, Mr Macron on Sunday told 20,000 people at a rally in Paris that France’s future lay firmly in Europe, albeit one that suited French interests.

“We need Europe, so we will remake it,” Mr Macron said.

Polls show that more than a quarter of voters have yet to decide who they will support.

Analysts also say there is a growing danger of a high abstention rate affecting the result, possibly tipping the scales in favour of Fillon.

“The behaviour of people who are currently planning not to vote is a major factor. If those on the right (who were going to abstain) decide to vote for Fillon, it changes things,” Ifop’s Dabi said.

Mr Fillon, a 63-year-old former prime minister, has been charged over allegations he gave his wife Penelope a fictional job as his parliamentary assistant for which she earned nearly 680,000 euros ($952,000) in public money.

Having led the polls at the turn of the year, the scandal hit his support hard. But voters now appear to be warming to his message that he is a safe pair of hands in an election of largely untested candidates.

In a statement about the arrests, Mr Fillon praised the security services “which stopped these people suspected of planning an attack linked to the presidential election”.